Wetherspoons Real-Ale Festival ‘08 - Manchester
The Wetherspoon's mega-chain is currently running their 2008 Real Ale Festival and so last Friday evening, Jo and I thought we'd nip along and see what they had to offer.
The branch we went along to was the Waterhouse on Princess Street in Manchester City Centre - a former solicitors' office (if I remember correctly) which has retained most of its internal dividing walls, making for a more intimate and secluded venue than its cross-city partner The Moon Under Water. The latter was previously a cinema and is now a cavernous, riotous open space, usually packed to the rafters on a weekend night and extremely noisy.
Of course, the smaller venue has a smaller number of pumps / taps and so the range of festival ales on offer was limited to a rather narrow selection from the 50 in the full festival range. Mind you, I don't think it helped that last Friday was Hallowe'en, because they still had a couple of spooky-themed beers on, along with a couple more that, whilst displayed with Festival clips on the taps, weren't actually part of the Festival... unless they're allowed a couple of local additions to the range? Anyhow, just a case of poor timing on our part, I guess. Next weekend might have been a better bet.
All of which meant that I didn't get the chance to try (or reacquaint myself with) a number of beers from the Festival brochure that I really would have liked to have a go at, such as: Triple FFF Alton's Pride (CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain 2008, no less), Hilden Molly's Stout, Caledonian Smokey Pete, Exmoor Wild Cat, Banks's Winter Ale, St Austell Proper Job, Harviestoun Thistle Do, Woodforde's Norfolk Nog, Baron's Black Wattle Original Ale, Meantime Coffee Porter (enjoyed the bottled version, would have loved to been able to sample the draught), Robinson's Old Tom Chocolate Ale, Titanic Iron Curtain Russian Stout and York Centurion's Ghost (any excuse to drink one of my all-time favourites...)
In the end, Jo and I managed to sample six beers - Festival or otherwise and all in half pint sampler-sizes - between the two of us us and then, having pretty much exhausted the possibilities, we went next door to the City Arms for a couple more, so I suppose I shouldn't grumble. And those beers were:
Yo-Ho Yona Yona - A new beer brewed especially for the Festival by Japanese brewer Toshi Ishii at Banks's brewery in Wolverhampton, Yona Yona Real Ale is a 5% American-style pale ale that poured a dark amber colour with a light head. It was quite hoppy, with a distinct grapefruit flavour that became more and more pronounced as the glass went on. In fact, I'd say it was probably a bit too pronounced for my taste, with the sourness and acidity over-powering the sweeter, maltier notes to the point where I wasn't actually enjoying it all that much by the end. Which was a shame, because it seems as though the rest of the Yo-Ho range is meant to be somewhat legendary, by all accounts...
Moorhouses Black Witch - Part of the Moorhouses seasonal range, Jo decided to try a half and ended up having a couple more. It's a 4.2%, dark, chestnut-brown ale with a nutty, coffee-toned flavour and a chocolately after-taste. Quite sweet, very easy-drinking. Not one of the Festival ales but probably the most enjoyable beer we sampled on the evening. So there you go.
George Wright Skeleton - I think this has to be one of the most aptly-named beers I've encountered to-date, because this 4.1% light ale had almost no body and very little meat on its bones at all. Almost devoid of any sort of flavour or even a notable leaning towards either dryness or sweetness, it was bland and watery throughout. Caveat emptor.
Outlaw Wrangler - I think this is brewed by Knaresborough-based Roosters under their Outlaw Brewing Co label, but it wasn't an official Festival beer and I couldn't get close enough to the cask-clip to double-check (it was a Friday night and two or three deep at that part of the bar...) Anyhow, Wrangler is a very pale ale with a frothy, bubbly head, which I assume has been brewed American-style, seeing as it was very dry with lots of hops. Quite pleasant and refreshing, just not the sort of style I usually make a point of seeking out.
Hydes Mumbo Jumbo - This locally-brewed, 4.9% Hydes seasonal ale is an interesting little number. Pouring a deep, stout-black with just a hint of chestnut, the impression I got on first tasting was a tannin-rich, wine-like character, backed up with coffee and chicory and then raisins, with lots of malt throughout. It was pleasant enough, but let down slightly by its mouth-feel, which just wasn't as rich and thick as the rest of its characteristics would seem to suggest it ought to be.
Stateside IPA - Again, I failed in my research and couldn't get close enough to make out the name of the brewery, but I'm going to assume this was Mikkeller's Stateside IPA that I was drinking [Edit 08.11.08 - maieb tells me it was actually from the Saltaire Brewery and Paul from Saltaire has confirmed that this is indeed the case - see the comments]. At 6% on draught this one delivered a real alcoholic whack to the taste-buds and was backed up with hops upon hops upon hops... very dry, very American, does exactly what it says on the label. Again, not usually my first-choice style so I'm not sure I'd survive full a session on this one, but it was good to try a half.
Thwaite's Nutty BlackBy this point Jo and I had de-camped to the City Arms, where we actually found one of Wetherspoon's Festival beers that Wetherspoon's didn't have. Nutty Black (formerly "dark mild") has been named CAMRA Champion Beer of Britain more than once, and made for a very pleasant counter-point to the previous uber-hopped monster IPA. Mild, slightly sweet, weighing in at a slight 3.3% and, yes, quite nutty, this is the sort of session easy-drinker you could easily keep going on all-night long, which probably would have been a good idea, seeing as I was back on full pints by this point...
Everards Original - ...but instead, I decided to stray and for my last pint of the night I went for the strongest beer on the blackboard (one of those 10.45 p.m. decisions that you pay for with a fuzzy head all the next day). Everard's Original poured a lovely mid-brown colour with a creamy head. I found it quite sweet, with a hint of cinder toffee and a definite almond tang (as Jo suggested: strong hints of bakewell tart) and I think if I'd been drinking it earlier in the night I would have enjoyed it more than I ended up doing... in the end it was just a bit much on top of everything else I'd sampled.
But still, a good night out - Jo and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and if we weren't booked up next Friday and Saturday then we'd probably be back down to the 'Spoons again for another stab at the Festival selection. But I guess those missed beers will just have to be added to the ever-growing wish-list, for now...
